January 16, 1977 - Winston Western 500

The first race of the 1977 NASCAR Cup season was the annual event on Riverside International Raceway's nine-turn road course. In a change from prior races, the 1977 season opener was a 500 kilometer race vs. 500 miles. The change lopped off about 200 miles and a couple of hours.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

Cale Yarborough started from the pole in Junior Johnson's Holly Farms Chicken Chevrolet. David Pearson joined him on the front row in the Wood Brothers' Purolator Mercury. Darrell Waltrip, Jimmy Insolo, and Dave Marcis rounded out the top five starters. 

Waltrip was entering his second full season with the DiGard Gatorade #88 team. Though the results to-date had been hit and miss - largely because of constant turmoil within the team's ownership and leadership, Ol' DW was entering his salad days that continued until the mid 80s. 

Crew member Gary Nelson rode the rise with Waltrip. After having worked with Ivan Baldwin's west coast race team, Nelson joined DiGard in the offseason. The 1977 opener at Riverside was Nelson's first race as a Cup team member. Nelson, of course, grew to have a phenomenal career with teams such as DiGard, Hendrick Motorsports, and SABCO Racing. He did so despite starting his career looking a bit like actor Owen Wilson.

Pearson entered 1977 after having a dominant - though limited - 1976 season in the Woods' 21 Mercury. Although the team did not run the full schedule for the championship, Pearson won 10 times in 22 starts - including both Riverside races. As the new season began, he picked up right where he left off with the 1976 roadies by leading lap one of the 1977 race.

Pearson may have won 10 races, but Yarborough won the 1976 title. He too was ready to continue excellence into the new year. Cale  roared back by Pearson on lap two, and he quickly set the pace for the race.  

After Pearson led lap one and Yarborough flashed across the line to lead lap two, Bobby Allison must have decided it was his time to shine...or maybe not. After racing for Roger Penske in 1976, Allison returned to his own team with an AMC Matador. He qualified a respectable eighth but grenaded an engine on the fourth lap. His red-white-blue car suddenly had orange flames added to the sides as he headed for the sand to extinguish the flames.

Source: Newport News Daily Press

Yarborough dominated the race and led every lap through lap 103 when disaster struck. With a five-second lead over Pearson and only 16 laps to go, Cale committed a mental mistake and got off into the sand. He looped his Chevrolet allowing Pearson to catch and then pass him, but Yarborough managed to straighten his car and returned to the track in in hot pursuit. 

Cale couldn't, however, make up the lost distance. Pearson led the remaining laps and won his third consecutive Riverside race as Yarborough finished nine seconds behind him in second. Richard Petty, Marcis, and west coast racer Sonny Easley completed the top five finishers.

The victory was win #98 for Pearson. Not only was the win his third consecutive one at Riverside, but it was also his fourth consecutive California win. He also won the 1976 season ending race at Ontario Motor Speedway.

Source: LA Times

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